God gives us a voice.

O Lord, you sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning-though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered. We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan. The length of our days is seventy years—or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. Who knows the power of your anger? For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.

My face is red with weeping, deep shadows ring my eyes; yet my hands have been free of violence and my prayer is pure. "O earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry never be laid to rest! Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; on behalf of a man he pleads with God as a man pleads for his friend. Only a few years will pass before I go on the journey of no return."

It is my witness; my advocate; my intercessor; my friend who pleads my innocence before God. It is Jesus Christ, the Lord of all creation, who looked down upon my broken state and said, "It is not good that my child, whom I love with all my heart, should perish in his sins." It was tears of blood that He wept for me and it was His face that He set like flint towards His own destruction on my behalf. It was the breath of His Holy Spirit that He breathed into me that lit the spark of life in my soul. He is the twinkle in my eye and the spring in my step! He has opened up for me a path to my gracious Father. He has given to me a voice to offer sacrifices of great praise to our almighty God! Jesus is my voice for He is the rock of my salvation! May He be the same for you!

How NOT to preach the Gospel.

The video is Mark Driscoll shouting at the men in his congregation who have failed in their duties as men, husbands, boyfriends, etc. The motivational message he drives home is powered by the engine of guilt and lacking in grace completely. If he is preaching to unbelievers his message derides them because he is not allowed to judge those who do not claim the name of Christ. They live according to their nature. If he is preaching solely to Christians, he does not invoke the love of God that brings us to repentance. He is quick to condemn. Watch it:



I know that some men (and women) who watched this clenched their fist and shouted, "Preach it!" Do you not know that you are that man? What makes you the judge of your brother? Do you not need forgiveness just as desperately? Do not make the love you have for others a love of self-righteousness. There is no checklist that you can complete that proves that you are capable of showing grace and mercy towards others that you have not first obtained from Christ, yourself. The love we know has been taught to us by Christ alone and we boast in His love above anything that we can do.

Romans 8:1-4 states:

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

In a worldly sense, men are under a legal obligation to the women they marry. After all, they sign a document stating that they have declared their intention to honor and love their wife. Yet the legal obligation they are under according to the worldly law is dead and their duties are resurrected in the spiritual law as gifts of unmerited love (this law applies to the single man, as well). Is not the best gift one that is given with no desire for something in return? That is love, and it is the gift of God's grace to us. We can offer the Lord nothing of ourselves that is worth His undeserved gift of forgiveness of sins, godliness and eternal life.

We must not teach one another to obey the gospel out of obligation or else our obedience is a self-righteous work. Truthfully, obedience on our part means that we trust in the sacrifice of Christ and His righteous life of obedience. That alone encourages us to count others as better than ourselves. The godliness of a true Christian comes from a broken and contrite heart because Christ was broken for our sakes. It is a heart that is humble and quick to forgive because of the forgiveness we have received. It is one that is quick to ask for forgiveness because we live by God's grace. Take that to heart you sinful man and know that the love of Christ alone will teach you to love a woman properly. Christ loved you, sinner, in order that His mercy and grace would teach you to show mercy and grace to those who don't deserve it.

Now go out and speak the truth in love!

On the "Religion of Peace" from Instapundit.com

A few days ago, I attended a small lunch for Kurt Westergaard, the Danish cartoonist whose image of Mohammed with a bomb for a turban is the most famous of the so-called “Danish cartoons” that occasioned one of those periodic paroxysms of rage, mayhem, and murder among followers of the religion of peace.

The lunch was off-the-record, so I’ll just say that Mr. Westergaard, now 74, is a gentle, soft-spoken fellow with a wry sense of humor. I liked his definition of a cartoon as “an idea with a line around it.” He was on his way the next day to Branford College at Yale, where he spoke before some 65 Yale students and faculty. You won’t be surprised to hear that Mr. Westergaard deplored Yale’s decision to censor Jytte Klausen’s book The Cartoons that Shook the World by forbidding at the last moment publication of the cartoons and other artistic representations of Mohammed.

Rabbi Jon Hausman was at the event and, guess what, the “Yale community” was the opposite of welcoming.

“The crowd was hostile, Rabbi Hausman reported in an interview.

There were a number of self-described Muslims. Those who did ask questions expressed displeasure with Westergaard’s work. The questions from these people were repetitive. One person described himself as a mildly Evangelical Christian who lived for a number of years in a Muslim country working. Yet, he took what I call a dhimmi view in his question — how far can Westergaard go in his work before endangering Christians who live in Muslim countries? I found this to be the most disturbing question and attitude of all.

Asked for his overall impression of Yale, Rabbi Hausman was blunt:

Honestly, I would not send my child to any school where there is such uniformity and conformity of thought and attitude. I was disappointed at the inability of those in attendance amongst the Yale community to place responsibility for the violence that has transpired on those who manifest such responsibility. Westergaard drew, but it was the Imams from Denmark who took those cartoons one year after publication and whipped up violent frenzies, destruction of Danish Embassies in the Muslim world, threats to the physical safety of Danish personnel, violence against indigenous Christian populations. Every questioner seemed to want to misplace blame.

Further, it is clear that the university suffers from the malaise of relativist truth and the multicultural ethic. There are no universal truths any longer. When I was in college, it seemed that the point of education at the university level was to use the subject matter under study to encourage independent, critical thinking. Today, all truths are equal. I abjure this notion.

In the final analysis, I believe that the university is lost.

That sums it up neatly, doesn’t it?

Is global warming the religion of the left?

To my dad and myself, "The Left" are those of Fascistic ideology who believe they are intelligent enough to make our decisions for us. My dad wrote to me some commentary on this "intelligentsia":

"The Left is constantly screeching that the “religious” Right are about to take over when it’s their “religion” that poses the real threat to our lives, liberty and economic well-being. What is it with people believing completely contradictory things?"



From health care to cap and trade to financial bailouts and government stimulus packages (with a good dose of alternative fuel energy policy thrown in), in what ways have we seen our personal liberties expanded? Have we been given the opportunity to deliberately debate these massive government-change social projects? For proof of where mandatory health insurance will take us link jump the provided article. You should be outraged to find out that, not only will you be penalized for not buying into it, you may even face up to a year of jail time!

If you're willing to read through even part of this article about global warming, you will see how we are being told how to live by politicians, "scientists," and environmentalists who willfully skew the facts to fit their own beliefs so that they may accumulate power.

Every morning, I stand guard in front of the high school and observe what is happening. For a hectic thirty minutes, parents, students and visitors all converge on one entry point into the school while navigating the dangers of one of the most busy streets in Escondido. I see the faces of hundreds of those who are young and old, of every race and almost every creed and get an intimate glimpse into their personal lives for the slightest of moments. I see suffering and sadness, happiness and joy, laughter, lethargy and disgust. Sometimes, I see occupants crying.

Often, I see parents and their children fighting intensely with one another only to pull up to the curb, open the door and go about their day as if everything is all right. The mask goes up and the defenses are fortified. The fake smile waxes brilliant or the stoic face buries the pain. Yet, the eyes are the gateway to the soul and at these times I consider my brief glimpse and wonder at the pain. To know the fullness of its depth would be too great for me to bear.

The pain I feel when I see the outward appearance of a person is nothing compared to the pain God knows when He looks at the heart. The pain I see is for but a moment, but the pain God sees is intimate and perfect in understanding and depth. He did not shy away from it or wring His hands in despair when He encountered it. From His throne in the heavens, He looked upon His lost sheep scattered to the four corners of the earth and it did not please Him that they would be lost and suffer forever. Thus, He gave us His Son to come to the earth and experience our agony and the shame of our sin in order that He might defeat it and bury our sadness in the overwhelming joy of eternal life that He alone can lead us into.

There is hope at the end of the tunnel. We see it as a dim light and know that we will soon emerge into the brightness of joy perfected at the other end. For but a little while longer, we must endure this present suffering in order to share the peace and joy that the Lord has promised to those who will call Him Father. The light is always the most pronounced in the greatest darkness and that light is the light of the Lord. In His light there is hope for He is the King of the Universe! He is the God of this city! He is the King of this people! He's the Lord of this nation! He's the peace to the restless! He's the hope to the hopeless! He's the Light in the darkness!

"This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God." ~1 John 5:3-5

Then Wolverine met Flock of Seagulls...

My previous post reminded me of a picture I took some time ago after I got out of the Marines and was able to grow my hair out far longer than I had worn it for the previous five years. Check it out:


My friend Tracy told me that I looked like a Wolverine/Flock of Seagulls love child...similar circumstances surrounded my appearance as Syndrome and Conan O'Brien!


Wolverine


Flock of Seagulls

This begs the question: Who do I look like the most? Vote on my poll!

Syndrome or Conan O'brien?

I mentioned to a student named Makayla (who I always joke around with) that I heard she had been smooching her boyfriend on campus. She pretended to be angry with me for hearing about that. An hour later, she and her friend Rebecca (whom I've known for years) came storming up to me to let me know that I look like Syndrome from "The Incredibles." Apparently, that was their way of getting back at me for embarrassing Makayla. The mental picture brought mirth to my heart:


Yet, I was also told by a very enthusiastic Vons checkout lady (I think she was taking her title a little too literally) that I looked like Conan O'Brien (albeit, a very handsome version):


Is it possible that I could look like both of them at the same time? I mean, there is the whole crazy hair deal going on... Would that make me some kind of freakish "love child" wrought by some unholy union between the two?